People Are Jazzed About Tales of the Cocktail

Tales of the Cocktail, New Orleans’s annual five-day summer celebration of all things spirituous, is gearing up for its July 21–25 celebration. We asked you what you are looking forward to most from Tales of the Cocktail 2010, and here’s what you told us. (We will continue to update this post as you send in the things you’re most excited about Tales of the Cocktail this year [mail@cocktailbuzz.com].)

Stephan Berg, one of the masterminds behind The Bitter Truth bitters and spirits, waxed enthusiastic about Tales this year. “Oh we are excited, because we just got nominated as best new product with our Celery Bitters.” We love his celery bitters and have been tinkering with it recently in a cocktail riff on the Vesper we call Clear.

Clear
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin
1 ounce vodka or a light ginger-infused vodka
1/4 ounce elderflower liqueur (such as St-Germain)
dash or two of Bitter Truth Celery Bitters
splash of soda
ice
grapefruit peel

Method
To build in a highball glass, add the spirits. Then add ice. Top with soda. Stir until chilled. Express grapefruit peel over the drink and rim the glass with the outside part of the peel. Discard or add to drink.

Tiare Olsen, who muses about spirits, and especially tiki drinks, on her blog A Mountain of Crushed Ice, gave us her list of things she’s most looking forward to:

Its first and foremost about three things for me:

1. The people — meeting my friends and making new friends;
2. New Orleans — love that city!;
3. Party and having a good time (that includes great cocktails and the best food in the world).

As a codicil, she added, “Then of course, interesting sessions.”

Sarah LeRoy of Piedmont Distillers, the makers of Junior Johnson’s Midnight Moon, Catdaddy, and Lightning Lemonade, was excited about the visibility of Piedmont’s products at this year’s Tales:

Of course, I think the Piedmont Distillers Tasting Room is a must attend event. After months of Catdaddy recipe creations by mixologists from across the country, we’ll have King Cocktail himself Dale DeGroff, editors from Mutineer Magazine, Paul Tuennerman (aka Mr. Cocktail), and Joe Michalek (Piedmont Distillers Founder) judging the top 3 recipes from the Catdaddy Bar Chef Challenge. They’ll pick the winner of the Golden Mason Jar trophy. But it’s not just the “experts” who will have their voices heard – everyone who comes to the Tasting Room will get to vote on their favorite cocktail too.

The Tasting Room is on Thursday, July 22, from 4:30–6:00pm, so it’s a great way to kick off your evening before you head out to the Spirited Dinners. Sarah and the gang will be in the Royal Room on the bottom floor of the Monteleone (near the parking deck entrance). Be sure to tell them Steve and Paul sent you their way!

Danny Ronen, spirits writer, rep, barman, and all around great guy, responded by saying:

Strangely, the things I’m actually most excited about are all not part of Tales itself:

• Volunteering with some friends before Tales begins;
• Exploring NOLA: the Garden District, Uptown, 9th Ward;
• BBQ in a local park; and
• Seeing friends and colleagues from around the world — that means YOU kids!

That’s so sweet of Danny to refer to us as kids. He’s either delusional or knows that flattery will get him everywhere.

Libation Girl Carmen Operetta, who’s always on the lookout for the latest trends in cocktailing on her Libation Diaries blog, gushed about how much she loves Tales:

I’m so excited to return this year! Last year was my first and words can’t describe how fantastic it turned out! This year I’m interested in attending the Dita Von Teese+Cointreau burlesque show!!

Also, I will actually have the time to visit the Museum of the American Cocktail (MOTAC) and eat more of the native cuisine (maybe not the seafood) and do a little shopping.

There will be so many interesting events, seminars, and dinners to attend this year; therefore I’m getting prepared now to get hopefully the full experience of TOTC!

Kara Newman, food/wine/spirits writer, is excited about the following seminars she will be attending:

• Art of the Aperitif (after reading Paul Clarke’s SF Chronicle article on this topic, I’m curious about quinquinas!);
• From Convicts to Cocktailians: The Release of Australian Flavour (because I love armchair travel, and I’ve never been to Australia);
• The Smooth & Creamy History of the Fern Bar (Martin Cate is always entertaining . . . and this topic sounds delightfully recherche!)

But Kara is especially jazzed about signing copies of her first book, Spice & Ice.

I presented a panel on spicy cocktails with the same title at Tales two years ago, so this feels like coming full circle! Some of the same bartenders who were on that panel (Adam Seger and Danny Valdez), and the drinks they presented at Tales, are in the book too. It might sound sentimental, but it just feels right to be bringing the book here.

Kathy Casey, the talent behind Kathy Casey Food Studios and The Liquid Kitchen, and many other food and cocktail adventures, is very excited about her seminar Creative Cocktails and the Power of Brainstorming. And of course, she and her crew can’t wait to see old friends again, and make some new ones.

Francine Cohen, editor of Inside F&B, has the following to say:

I can hardly wait to return to New Orleans for Tales! Picking my favorite things would be like picking my favorite spirit – impossible since there’s so much that is good.

We may no longer have the constant buzzing of the vuvuzelas in our ears now that the World Cup has ended but it will be replaced by an even livelier buzz – the happy sounds of new and old friends greeting one another and the constant spirited chatter that fills the halls of the Monteleone, envelops the Carousel Bar, permeates Old Absinthe house, and wafts across the pool.

This year’s Pro Series seminar lineup is even more exciting to me than it has ever been as there’s a lot of attention focused on the business of the bar business with presentations on consulting, intellectual property, wisely crafting deals, effective operations, and more. As the industry talent grows from bartenders to bartender/businessmen this kind of information is invaluable.

I’m also looking forward to supporting the Cointreau Apprentice Program and poking my nose around behind the scenes and reporting on the goings-on in www.insidefandb.com so everyone knows (even if they’re in a bit of an alcohol induced haze) just what it takes to put together such a great time.

And lastly, I’m jazzed about all the fun evening events from the Beefeater Welcome Reception to the Diageo Happy Hour to the Bombay Spirited Dinner to the Cowboy Mouth and Rebirth Brass Band concert DonQ organized to benefit the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s efforts to clean up and restore the Gulf Coast area impacted by the oil spill, to the Spirited Awards and the Bartender’s Breakfast.

I’m exhilarated and exhausted already just thinking about it!

Thuhuong Tran, a New Orleans native who we met at the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, and who watched us pour some Catdaddy cocktails at last year’s Tales tweeted, “I am most excited about trying all the different spirits and liqueurs and seeing all the peeps I’ve met in the past!”

And someone from Liqurious.com responded that he or she was “excited about Tales of the Cocktail in general! The Spirited Dinners series sounds like an amazing way to experience NOLA.”

We also received a nice note from Dinah Sanders and Joe Gratz. They write on their blog Bibulo.us, and apologize that they will not be able to attend Tales this year. They included in their note:

Alas — a bit sorry not to be infusing our cash into the wounded New Orleans economy as well as missing the cocktail nerdy fun.

Tickets to the events mentioned can be purchased here.

[Buzz note: Words cannot describe how horrible the Gulf oil disaster is; our hearts go out to all who are dealing with this fiasco on a daily basis.]

The Srirachacha Lights Up Our Lives

The Srirachacha, a savory Martini with just a drop of Sriracha chili sauce and a dash of celery bitters, garnished with a pickled green tomato.

One cold Sunday night this past January, we were too lazy to go out and brave the frigidaire that was Brooklyn, so we quadruple-locked the door and said to each other “Let’s make a Martini . . . but not a Martini Martini.” Something a little more exotic. So we looked in the frigidaire that was in our kitchen and Steve whipped out a jar of Rick’s Picks Pickled Green Tomatoes. Acknowledging his choice, I espied a brightly vermilion-hued squeeze bottle of Sriracha hot sauce. We know you’ve seen it. If it’s the original from Huy Fong Foods, it’s got a big outline of a rooster on the front and a neon green cap. It’s actually an American invention, by David Tran, in 1984, who wanted to make a ketchup-like condiment, but one that reminded him of the chilies back home in Vietnam. (There are other Sriracha chili sauces on the market, such as Roland, which looks similar, but has two yellow Chinese dragons on the bottle, and a mustard yellow cap.) Well, we decided that this sauce (pronounced SIR-rotch-ah) was going to some how mix with gin and dry vermouth to create a new cocktail, based on an old favorite.

We had some Dolin dry vermouth in the fridge, and some sample mini bottles of Death’s Door gin that we picked up at Tales of the Cocktail last summer. If you haven’t had a drink made with Death’s Door, you must seek one out. The gin, from Wisconsin, is made with organic wheat and juniper berries found wild on Washington Island. You can taste the juniper, along with zingy fennel and bright coriander, in the gin, and it mixes extremely well with the Dolin. Old-school Martinis have a dash of orange bitters, but we decided to wait on adding bitters until we added the hot sauce.

Deciding on old-school measurements, we gave the gin and vermouth a ratio of 3 to 1. Since dry vermouth loves to swish around with gin, why not send the two into quivers of sprituous delight. In thinking of the amount of Sriracha, we decided on but one drop per drink. Why overdo a good thing. After a quick shake and a taste, we were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked it. And only a hint of the Sriracha came through, just enough to elevate this drink to something more complex. However, we both knew that a little bit of bitters was needed, but not orange. Celery would be more befitting. Just a dash did the trick. And adding a nibble of pickled green tomato made the last bite a perfect end to a harmonious drink.

Steve dubbed it “Srirachacha” (stress on the final syllable), and we proceeded to do some not-in-synch, pseudo-sixties parlor-hipster Cha Cha moves. It proved to be a great pre-dinner appetite stimulator (the drink, not the dancing), because as soon as Steve was making up another batch, I was sauteeing up some chicken cutlets piccata-style, with a little Singapore seasoning added to the flour, plus more as the chicken lay sizzling in the butter-drenched skillet. And to top off those golden moist cutlets: Sriracha sauce, of course, and a little candied citron, for good measure.

So, when there’s still a nip of cold in the air, but the promise of spring teases us with a sunny day, heat things up with the Srirachacha. A drop of Sriracha chili sauce is all you need. Think of it as a a crisp martini with a warm glow. And don’t forget to treat yourself to some Seared Singapore Chicken Cutlets as a little side. Bon appetit.

Srirachacha
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Death’s Door gin
1/2 ounce Dolin dry vermouth
1-2 dashes Bitter Truth celery bitters
1 drop Sriracha chili sauce
1 piece of pickled green tomato, such as Rick’s Picks

Method

Add all ingredients except tomato to a shaker. Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a pickled green tomato.

The Srirachacha perfectly pairs with an appetizer of Seared Singapore Chicken Cutlets.

Seared Singapore Chicken Cutlets
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients 

1 package of thin chicken cutlets (about 5), cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup flour
1/8 cup Singapore Seasoning from Penzey’s, or another spice mix that contains curry flavors
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Sriracha chili sauce
bite-sized candied citrus peel, as garnish (citron works beautifully with the Sriracha)

Method

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat. Meanwhile, mix flour and Singapore Seasoning in a bowl. Dredge chicken pieces in flour mixture, and add to pan when butter starts to sizzle. Cook on each side for about 3 minutes. Sprinkle more seasoning on each side. Remove from heat. Drizzle with Sriracha. Scatter with candied peels. Serve immediately with Srirachacha cocktail.

Thanksgiving Simplified

A hand-cranked apple peeler: Thank you for making pie-making a breeze.

This Thanksgiving we spent our time together, as we always do, but with no guests at our table. Last-minute changes afforded us the opportunity to sit this holiday with just each other. Instead of scrambling to find some hot new recipes using outré ingredients, this year we decided on a simple bill of fare: cook what you know, and don’t use any recipes except the ones in your head. We came up with the basic shape of our meal through chit-chat and cocktails days before the feast, and decided that spending the least amount of money to make great “traditional” dishes was the way to be Zen about all this. Here’s what we made:

Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
roasted turkey with gravy,
sausage stuffing,
whipped potatoes,
mashed sweet potatoes and parsnips,
green beans with almonds,
cranberry sauce,
apple pie with whipped cream

Drinks Menu
Sofia Mimosa with Galliano,
The Wink

We took our time making the meal. To say that it took all day would not be a lie, but it was a nice way to spend the holiday. Leisurely we sipped some Sofia Mimosas with Galliano with an easy lunch of bacon and eggs. The new Galliano L’Autentico has fewer vanilla and more spice notes than the older version, and it provided a zippy contrast to the orange juice and the blanc de blanc bubbly in a can we love so much.

Sofia Mimosa with Galliano
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounce fresh orange juice
1/4 ounce Galliano l'Autentico
1/2 can Sofia blanc de blanc champagne

Method
In a mixing glass, chill the orange juice and Galliano by stirring in ice for about 20 seconds. Strain into a champagne flute. Top with champagne.

The first dish was so simple. Cranberry Sauce. All you need to know how to do is boil water and make sure you have some sugar handy. And homemade looks a hell of a lot prettier in a serving dish than the blob that lurches out of a can. The whipped potatoes involved boiling water as well, but a little butter and heavy cream helped them achieve their full potential (though we didn’t overdo the butter and cream this year). The sweet potatoes and parsnips were roasted in the oven, all wrapped up in aluminum foil before being subjected to a good whipping with, again, a little butter and heavy cream, plus a sprinkling of nutmeg and brown sugar for some fall sweetness. With all this starchy goodness, we needed to counterbalance with something green. We both love green beans and were toying with the idea of making green bean casserole, replete with savory, creamy mushroom sauce and crispy wispy onion rings, but that mouth-watering description took away from the “green” aspect of what we wanted, sort of like when you’re on a diet and insist on just the salad bar, but then end up eating half the tub of macaroni salad. So we agreed on blanched green beans, further sauteed with some chopped almonds and fresh herbs, like thyme and marjoram.

Laying the foundation for stuffing with sauteed leeks and celery.

Steve’s favorite Thanksgiving dish is stuffing. He makes it every year, and loves to use sausage. It’s such a mish-mosh dish, a mongrel made with what seems like leftovers: stale bread, scraps of meat, some root vegetables and an onion. This year’s stuffing was onion-free, though leeks (which we’ve been cooking in almost every meal lately) and celery were the foundation upon which were laid savory cornbread croutons, apples, and little bites of hot and sweet Italian sausage. Baked so that its crusty top gives way to a slight pillowy interior, this stuffing was even further enhanced with a little slathering of gravy.

Ah, the gravy. So important. Do not trifle with gravy or the lit-up faces of those sitting at your table, admiring the gorgeous yet tasteful holiday tablescape it took you three weeks to design and shop for, will turn into sullen looks of unfulfilled dreams. The gravy this year was easy, and for one reason only: the turkey drippings were a’plenty. Why? Well, we like a moist bird (who doesn’t?), so we used a giant plastic bag in which to cook the bird. Instead of following manufacturer’s instructions, we didn’t poke holes in the bag to allow steam to escape from the air surrounding the bird. We let the air in the bag inflate as the bird cooked, and essentially it slowly did a poach-and-braise kind of thing, while still browning. At the very end, we poked some holes in the bag to let the steam out and cooked it until it reached a perfect 165˚F. When we plopped it on the carving board to rest, it looked beautiful.

The moistest bird awaits carving.

Paul does the carving, and this year’s 14-pounder gave in easily to the blade. The white meat was succulent and had hints of celery and onion, which we had stuffed in the bird’s cavity. The dark thigh meat was tender and had a pleasant gaminess. The gravy added a light richness to everything it touched. Suddenly, the bird, which is supposed to be the center of the banquet, earned its place.

But we’ve forgotten one important piece, that which completes any holiday meal . . . the pie. With apples we got from the farmers market and some Granny Smiths we picked up at the grocery store, Steve whipped up some pie crust while Paul mixed some cut-up apples with spices (mostly cinnamon, with some ginger, mace, nutmeg, and allspice) to make the filling. The results, heavenly.

Apple pie is easy. All you need is motivation.

Cleanup’s a breeze when you have no dinner guests, and even though we didn’t start eating until 9PM, we were all scrubbed, dried, and put away before midnight, enough time to relax with the remains of our Thanksgiving cocktail, The Wink. The Wink is perfect for an all-day event like Thanksgiving. It’s mostly Moscato d’Asti, a sweet and crisp white wine, with some Pear brandy and a dash of celery bitters to temper the sweetness. Refreshing, not cloying, and easy to make, you can keep your party happy with chilled bottles at the ready.

The Wink
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces Moscato d'Asti (one with pear notes will work perfectly)
3/4 ounce pear brandy (we like Clear Creek)
dash of celery bitters (The Bitter Truth)

Method
Pour chilled ingredients in wine glass in order above. Garnish with celery leaf.

The three ingredients that make The Wink.

Even though we took our time preparing the feast, our dogs were bone-tired by the end of the night, and after the last bite of apple pie, we slipped into a sugar-induced sleep and dreamed of leftovers. Our big leftover plans included turkey barbecue sandwiches (delicious on challah rolls with a topping of Japanese turnip and celery slaw) and Turkey Tetrazzini (on the menu today), but other leftovers lingered in the fridge waiting to be cast in a new role: the mashed sweet potatoes and parsnips, the stuffing, the Moscato d’Asti. It reminded us of our food challenge last weekend in which we wrote down on slips of paper items in the freezer and cupboards that were neglected and needed to be used in a creative dish.

So we decided to do the same with neglected items in our bar to make a new cocktail. Each of us wrote down three possible items to use as an ingredient in the cocktail, folded the little slips, and proffered them to the other for opting. We then decided that we would join forces to create one cocktail combining the items we each picked. Steve got Xanté (pronounced sawn-TE, but with a French nasal twang), a pear liqueur made with cognac and hints of vanilla, and I got Moscato d’Asti. Hmm. This sounded familiar, almost like the ingredients for The Wink, with the sweet ultra-pear aromatic rush of Xanté substituting for the subtler pear brandy. Xanté is a tricky liqueur to mix with; it’s 38% alcohol by volume and has a very strong personality—it can easily insinuate itself as the life of the party, but we wanted to create something a little tamer, something that your guests could sip on all night without stumbling and falling into your crystal decanter collection. We had a red grapefruit, so we mixed some of that with the Xanté and topped it with the Moscato d’Asti. Done. We even played with ratios, but found that our instincts on our first try were correct. This drink is easy-peasy to make and you can preshake your Xanté and red grapefruit juice and keep it chilled in a bottle alongside the bottle of Moscato d’Asti. Just write down the proportions for your guests, and they can make one themselves. Some people like a garnish, so make sure you have a few grapefruit twists for them to decorate their glasses. The smell of the twist along with the pear fragrance of the Xanté is rather enticing. Here’s to Thanksgiving leftovers. Cheers!

Aplomb
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1/2 ounce pear liqueur (we like Xanté)
1 ounce red grapefruit juice (you can substitute pink if you cannot find red)
1 1/2 ounces Moscato d’Asti

Method
Shake the first two ingredients in ice vigorously, so that little ice shards are created. Strain into chilled glass. Top with Moscato d'Asti. Garnish with grapefruit peel, if desired.

Photos © Cocktail Buzz.

Mixology Monday XXXV: Broaden Your Horizons with Moscato d’Asti

The Wink, fruity, crisp, and slightly effervescent.

We decided that this Mixology Monday we would chose Door No. 3 and use an ingredient we haven’t used before in a new cocktail. Our newbie: Stout. We tried mixing it with Scotch (ugh), Drambuie (better), Old Krupnik honey liqueur (interesting), Tuaca (self-effacing), crème de violette (beguiling), crème de cacao (sorority), crème de violette and crème de cacao (now we’re onto something)—then a DEAD END. We decided we just didn’t like stout enough to give a rat’s ass, so we ditched the idea and searched for something new.

Upstairs, in our mini fridge lay a bottle of Moscato d’Asti. Why not Moscato d'Asti? It’s fruity, light, and slightly effervescent. After trying different spirits mixed with the Moscato, such as dark rum (double ugh), and Hendrick’s gin (very interesting), we thought pear brandy (eau de vie) interplayed well with the green apple and apricot notes in the Moscato d’Asti. And to take the ever-so-slight cloying sweetness away, we added a few drops of the Bitter Truth celery bitters. You can even place a single celery leaf to float atop this winey delight to add a hint of celadon. Crisp, slightly sweet, and oh so refreshing. Serve it with appetizers and hors d’oeuvres at your next cocktail party, such as spiced nuts or bacon-wrapped water chestnuts drizzled in a soy–caramel glaze.

The Wink
(created by Paul Zablocki and Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces Moscato d'Asti
3/4 ounce pear brandy (we like Clear Creek)
dash of celery bitters (The Bitter Truth)

Method
Pour chilled ingredients in wine glass in order above. Garnish with celery leaf.

Using the Moscato has opened a new door for us: wine-based cocktails, and not just those using quinquinas, sherries, or ports, but cabernets, pinots, and chablis. Stay tuned.

text by Paul Zablocki
photo © Steve Schul